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Riesling from Germany

Winemaker's Notes

The 2004 Saint M Riesling is a fresh, fruit-driven wine with wonderfully ripe flavors of peach and apricot. The delightful flavors of Saint M pair with nearly any fare.

Saint M Riesling is crafted in a medium-dry style with lower alcohol and crisp acidity. Saint M finishes with a nice touch of minerality that is typical of the Pfalz region. Dr. Loosen very successfully crafted Saint M in a traditional style. Saint M is a fantastic value as a classic food-friendly Riesling from the Pfalz Region.

Saint M Winery

As the leading producer of American Riesling and the award winning Eroica Riesling, Chateau Ste. Michelle is proud to introduce Saint M Riesling, a classic German Riesling made by famed German winemaker Dr. Ernst Loosen.

With his modern world view and his traditional approach to winemaking, Loosen's Saint M unmistakably says Riesling, Germany and Dr. Loosen. The Dr. Loosen estate brings over 200 years of winemaking tradition to Saint M. For centuries, the Loosen estate has produced only Riesling from old vines in Germany's Mosel and Pfalz regions.

Chateau Ste. Michelle has been producing Columbia Valley Rieslings for over 30 years. Saint M Riesling is a fitting addition to the winery's lineup of diverse, highy acclaimed wines.
View all Saint M Wines

About Other German

View a map of Other German wineries
Other regions of Germany that are producing and exporting wine to the US are the Pfaltz and Nahe. The Pfaltz region, south of the Rheingau, is making both Riesling and Gewurztraminer. These white wines are generally of excellent value. The fruit character is a bit more zingy and the acidity less sharp than the Mosel & Rheingau wines. So while often not as complex, still very refreshing and usually affordable. The Nahe region is closer to the Mosel and, like the others, produces the best wines from the Riesling grape.
Diverse soils here give the wines mineral flavors, but with a broader appeal.

More landwein and tafelwein producers are creating Riesling in the dry, crisp style and exporting it to the US. These are often great values and deilcious for everyday drinking.

About Germany

White Wine Guru

With some of the steepest and northernmost vineyards in the world, as well as the coolest climate, Germany produces some of the best white wines in the world, mainly Riesling. Delicate, age-worthy, intense and elegant are the typical descriptions for these wines. Note that “sweet” is not a common descriptor because the idea that most German wines are sweet is just not so. In fact, the majority of wines made in Germany are dry and more recently, the country is exporting value wines that are easy to drink, extremely food friendly and, luckily for some, containing labels that are easier to read!

The classification system of Germany is somewhat confusing. Like the rest of the old world, there's some hierarchy to it all. The categories are: Tafelwien (table wine), Landwein (land wine, similar to France's Vin de Pays) and the first “Q” level, QbA. QbA wines are easy-drinking and inexpensive – the only requirement being that the wine must come from one of Germany's thirteen official wine growing regions. The final level is QmP, which is the strictest level of German wines. The qualification consists of 6 levels, based on ripeness level at harvest, though that does not always translate into sweetness level.

Here are a few definitions to help in picking out a German QmP wine:

Kabinett

(cab-ee-NET)

The driest level, Kabinett is usually light-bodied, low to medium in alcohol, and fairly dry. Great everyday wine and food-friendly.

Spatlese

(shpate-LAY-zuh)

Grapes are picked a bit later than Kabinett (Spatlese means late harvest) and have a fuller, more intense body. Most wines of this level are dry although some are off-dry.

Auslese

(OWSE-lay-zuh)

Wines of this level are made from select grapes harvested even later than Spatlese. The grapes are selected in bunches to make sure they are of the perfect ripeness level. One step up in both body and sweetness, Auslese wines are balanced but with a bit more sweetness – perfect with spicy Indian food.

Beerenauslese

(bare-ehn-owse-lay-zuh)

The longer the words get, the higher up in sweetness level you rise. Like Auslese, the grapes are selected individually, but while Auslese is selected bunches, Beerenauslese are selected berries, and usually berries affected by botrytis, or noble rot, so you have an even more specific wine, which, in turn, increases both its sweetness level and its price.

Trockenbeerenauslese

(trok-ehn-bare-ehn-owse-lay-zuh)

Okay, so Trocken means dry in German and yet this wine is the sweetest of the German levels. The "trocken" comes into play as the berries picked for this wine are dried, intensifying the sugars. So the wine is made from late-harvest dried berries affected with botrytis - a combination that makes a decadent (and expensive!) bottle of wine. A treat if you are able to ever try one.

Saint M Riesling is bright, with the delicate peach aroma and stony minerality that is typical of the weathered sandstone
soils found in the Pfalz region. It is a medium bodied, off dry Riesling with a fine fruitiness that lingers ...

Alcohol By Volume Guide

Most wine ranges from 10-16% alcohol by volume. Some varietals tend to have higher (for example Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon) or lower alcohol levels (Pinot Noir and many white varietals), but there is always some variation from producer to producer. Some wine falls outside of this range, for instance Port weighs in closer to 20%, while Muscat and Riesling are usually a bit below 10%.

Wine Style Guide

Light & Crisp

Light to medium bodied wines that are high in acid and light to medium fruit. Typically no oak.